An investigation into the technical problem that led to a Cyprus-wide power outage beginning at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, August 21, 2026, is being conducted by the Distribution System Operator’s office. This was stated by Haris Zavallis, Assistant Director of the Transmission System Operator, on the Alpha Summer program, emphasizing that the outage was not due to insufficient electricity generation but to a failure in the communication system between the solar farms and the EAC Distribution Center, which led to the curtailment of 165 megawatts of consumer load.
“This reduction in output from the solar farms should not have occurred; it is a technical communication problem between the farms and the EAC Distribution Center.”
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READ ALSO: Here’s the cause of the blackout: What happened between the solar farms and the Transmission System Operator
When asked if there were any possibilities for making up for the electricity generation lost from the system, he explained that it is impossible to instantly make up for 165 megawatts.
“Our units generate 100 megawatts in the afternoon, while during daylight hours they generate approximately 65 megawatts. Compared to other losses, this is significant, and the units cannot respond from reserve capacity.”
The Assistant Director of the Transmission System Operator assured that there is no supply problem, since generation reaches 1,138 megawatts during peak hours.
“I’m concerned and I want to know what happened. For example, a unit may have been lost from the system 20 times in 2024, and 7–8 times in 2025. We have the statistics, and the same thing is happening here.”
READ ALSO: Power Restored, but the Problem Persists: Why Was the Operator Receiving Incorrect Readings from the Solar Farms?
